IGF

The Internet Governance Forum

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was set up by the United Nations following on the working sessions of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The Internet Governance Forum is an annual platform for multi-stakeholder consultation for the global Internet fraternity to explore, discuss and solve crucial Internet-related issues. Since 2006, the IGF brings stakeholders together from the government sector, the Industry, and the Civil Society to discuss Internet governance issues at annual meetings.

At present, three out of the ten seats allocated to the academic and technical community are occupied by RIRs representatives on the IGF Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG).

The NRO collectively and AFRINIC individually are keen participants at the annual global IGF with workshops and expert speakers present on different panels. Get an overview of some of these contributions over the years.

The outcome by the East African IGF presented at the IGF 2010 can be read here.

IGF 2009: Sharm El Sheik Egypt

AFRINIC was actively involved in the organisation and facilitation of a successful West Africa Internet Governance Forum and the overview of the event and communique was presented at IGF 2009 Sharm El Sheik by the Ghana Ministry of Communications.

During IGF 2009, the NRO participated in a workshop titled ''Adopting IPv6: What You Need To Know''. Click here to read more on the outcome of the workshop.

Regional IGFs

The Regional Internet Governance Forums (IGF) are multi-stakeholder platforms focusing on Internet governance issues such as access, cyber security, critical internet resources and Internet governance for development (IG4D) specific to each sub region. The outcome of these forums is shared at the Global IGF.

AFRINIC supports the African sub-regional IGFs though content building, and by providing financial and technical support.

African IGF (AF-IGF)Internet Governance in Africa was very active during theWSIS process with regional meetings held from 2002 to 2005 in Bamako, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cairo, Johannesburg, Douala and Tunis. The AF-IGF forum includes representatives from governments, businesses and non-governmental organisations and addresses Internet Governance issues in the continent to provide substantive input to the global IGF process. Further, within the IGF global initiative, Africa has already hosted two Global IGFs - Egypt (2009) and in Kenya (2011).

Arab IGFThis multi-stakeholder forum consists of 22 Arab nations. The Arab IGF was launched in 2012 following the endorsement of the outcome of the Conference and Public Consultations, jointly organised by LAS and ESCWA in Beirut, to establish the Arab IGF.Click here to learn more about these issues.

East Africa Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF)The EAIGF regroups East African stakeholders to build a common understanding of East Africa Internet governance issues to enable meaningful participation in global Internet policy, governance and development. The participating nations are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Read more on the East Africa Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF)

West Africa Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF)The West Africa Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF) aims to promote Internet Governance issues in West Africa through a multi-stakeholder process. It is run by a consortium led by the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA). Other members of the consortium include AFRINIC, Panos West Africa, the IISD, APC, ISOC and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Member states participating in these forums are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Read more on the West Africa Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF).

Southern Africa Internet Governance ForumThe SA-IGF acknowledges the importance of Internet Governance and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as captured in the 2005 Tunis Agenda for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Find out more about the SA-IGF's work.

North Africa Internet Governance Forum The first North Africa Internet Governance Forum took place place in Hammamet, Tunisia, in September 2012. Find outmoreabout this event.